Those who were around for wild televised stunt performances in the ’70s, or who have studied the annals of weird human behavior, may remember The Human Fly. The Fly was a masked stuntman who claimed to be the greatest daredevil who ever lived. Under his mask, the Fly was reportedly a man who survived a car crash only by having 60% of his body re-made out of steel. Hist most famous stunt was surfing atop a commercial jet at 5,000 feet, at speeds of more than 250mph.

Marvel Comics published a comic book series called The Human Fly from ’77 to ’79, where the stuntman was turned into a ‘real-life superhero.’ A film about the Human Fly has been in development for years, and today there was an announcement that it is moving forward once again. And while The Human Fly was a Marvel Comics character at one point, this is not a Marvel movie.

I spoke with director Steven Goldmann (Trailer Park of Terror, and director of many music videos) about what he’s trying to do with the project, and he described his intent to create a period piece that focuses both on the Human Fly and the man who “created” and promoted him. Goldmann wants to make a movie that incorporates real footage as it exaggerates some of the weirder aspects of the story, for a film that could have echoes of Catch Me if You Can and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.